One time I heard someone qualify at a meeting about raising kids, that after a while of doing it, and understanding parental mistakes with the first couple, this particular parent could start to grasp what was his (don’t make the situation worse) vs. what was hard-wired (kids get to make their own mistakes). This parent said that at a certain point in maturing, it’s the parent’s duty to understand that a) son/daughter is going to hit a wall no matter what you do, but b) you can put out some suggestions so that when they do, as impact approaches, they can slow down so that it doesn’t cause broken bones/relationships/reputations.

Not that I’m anyone’s parent, but I found that to be a bit true in my life in surprising ways. Ironically it didn’t apply to me vis-a-vis my own parents, but more so with teachers and professors. It took me a long time, for example, to really get that when a prof said “5-7 page paper” they really wanted me to create a 5-7 page paper, not an 11 page monstrosity that suffered from bloated prose. I didn’t get that until my senior year of college! D’Oh! Frequently directions ARE meant to be followed, and they are good for ya!

Granted this is a minor issue, and looking at my eating history, I see that re: my parents, because I was first-born I got the brunt of their mistakes. Since they only had 3 of us and didn’t get recovery, I was destined to hit walls again and and again and again.

This idea seems related to the title of my post. Cassandras past, present and future only sometimes receive premonitions, not unlike the protagonists in the Final Destination movies. Most of the time, anyone who’s in this position is more like the parent in the story I told, one who can see that there are going to be consequences down the line. Some people have that “mixed curse” of being able to see cause and effect and putting it all together.

I don’t have this propensity all the time, but because I’ve been immersed in the 12 step process for 13 years now (I’ve had a few cups of coffee!), there are certain areas where I can definitely note that I play the Cassandra-wise parent role. It’s rather a continuum. The not-so-wise parent is a pretty good stand-in for Cassandra, for the original one seemed to have personalized her role quite a bit. Of course, she foresaw how she was going to be personally affected. She couldn’t help but personalize that, and the bereft feelings she must have endured as everything she foresaw came to pass.

I struggle with moving from Cassandra to wise parent, I must admit, as we enter into this strange and desperate turbulence. People have to make their own mistakes, but like Cassandra, I see that a lot of my own personal energy is bound up with other people’s choices. I wonder if there wasn’t some point when, after she rejected Apollo and he so cursed her with the ability to prophecy and the inherent inability to convey what she saw to anyone else, if she could have scanned the various futures that were laid out before her, and made better choices in her life, given what she was coming to know. Apollo probably knew the type of girl he was attempting to seduce. (Gods can be such shits sometimes, can’t they? :)) He could have cursed her in another way, and Cassandra’s own immaturity probably contributed to her doom. Even though she stuck to her guns and said X = X, it didn’t do her any good. Stubbornness and passivity won’t get a person anywhere, except depressed and crazy and then …

Knowing how she felt doesn’t absolve me of my own responsibilities. Knowing what I know about human nature and what I sense lies before us, what do I do? What are my plans? Right now, it’s just to do what I’ve done so far, which is to quietly ask people where they stand and to suss out where I can plant suggestive seeds that hopefully will take root. Cassandra didn’t have someone else’s story laid out to benefit her. Her story does benefit me however, in the sense that I see that rather than sitting and lamenting her fate and waiting for the Greeks to invade and plunder and abscond and then for Aegisthus to strangle her, I can envision and create a different and better future. I am not without my gifts after all. I can put my energies into creating the pathway that will best get me to “Schenecta” and that will lead me to the best and brightest future Self I can be.

Still, I have to go through the dark tunnel just like everyone else. With my two spells, along with other spells I have sent out into the multiverse, I’m praying for Ameristroika and Debt Jubilee. The death of the vEmpire of corp(se)orate sacral-authority-bullying, the autophagy of the force-fear pingpong game. And then, I pray for the comprehension of a few actions to take to bring that best and brightest Self forward.

These are my post-Cassandra steps today. Can you wake up from your Cassandra dream?